Hole-transporting interlayers for improving the device lifetime in the polymer light-emitting diodes

The authors report the effect of thermal treatment of hole-transporting interlayers between a polymeric hole injection layer and an emitting layer (EML) on the luminous efficiency and the lifetime performance in blue polymer light-emitting diodes. As the thermal annealing temperature of the interlayer increased, the hole mobility of the interlayer tended to decrease, which results in reducing the hole current injected into the EML in the devices. Hence, the device luminous efficiency decreased due to lower electron-hole balance. Nevertheless, the device lifetime increased, which can be attributed to the formation of the thicker interlayer and the better defined interlayer/EML interface.